1. GIBC (19 Oct 2025)

1. Intro: Encounters Have Repercussions

The New Testament is full of conversations and encounters between Jesus and people. Many are important for the people involved but some have wider importance. But, some are ground breaking and have historical repercussions. At a local level, the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman was significant. The Son of God speaks to a society reject and in the process lifts her up personally. This has a huge effect on her and those around her. Spiritual renewal is infectious. We see grace in all its effects there and lives get changed. But, it was localized to Samaria. Today, the encounter that I’ll be speaking about changed the course of world history. Am I exaggerating? You see, the Gospel accounts of Jesus are historical narratives, they tell us about the life of Christ and what he taught. But, it was left to Paul to explain the significance of Christ and his death on the Cross on a wider scale and that changed the course of world history. It can be said that it was Paul more than anyone else who explained the ministry and significance of Jesus’s gospel to successive generations.

Today, I want to refer to the encounter to show how it all began.

Read Acts 9: 1-9

2. The Damascus Road

2.1. Sincerely Wrong: I wonder if you have ever been fully convinced of something so much so that you pursued it with all your heart and nothing could shake your confidence in that belief system even if it were proved to be wrong. There was a woman whose husband was the propaganda chief of Adolph Hitler. The husband’s name was Goebbels. When World War 2 came to an end and everything came crashing down, his wife Magda, refused to accept defeat. She said that she could not live without Nazism and she went and killed herself and poisoned her children. She was sincere but sincerely wrong. Long before his name was changed to Paul, Saul believed in the way of the Pharisees. They were not immoral people. Its just that they had a very narrow way at looking at the law. We call that legalism! For example, we have the law of the Sabbath. They couldn’t see that laws are to bless not to penalize people. And therefore, if you worked on the Sabbath that was considered sinful. Saul could not tolerate this emerging bunch of people called Christians who were in their midst and who held to the belief in God but they also believed that God had sent his son as the Messiah. As far as Saul was concerned, this was absolute heresy and the emerging group had to be stamped out. By force if necessary!

2.2. Saul Heads to Damascus: with letters of authority to arrest the Christians and bring ****them back to Jerusalem ****for trial ****and spreading blasphemy. He already has blood on his hands with the stoning of Steven but Saul is completely convinced in the righteousness of his mission even if it means causing harm to the Christians because he is convinced that what they are doing and saying is heresy. He is full of zeal! Be careful of religious fundamentalism because it has the attitude that we have nothing to learn from others. Well, was he wrong! Suddenly, on that Damascus Road he comes across a bright light that shines on him. He is obviously overawed by a greater power as the scripture states that he falls to the ground. Then, a voice speaks to him. With Moses it was a voice from a burning bush. With Saul it was a voice and a bright light. The bright light must have been the glory of God. It is a confrontation alright but not one of those angry, accusatory confrontations. It is more like a confrontation with a plea. Jesus in all his risen glory is asking, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul discovers it is Jesus who is talking to him! All those efforts of suppression, of deterrence, of punishment against the Christians were actually against the Son of God and now Saul is overwhelmed and in shock because he begins to realize how wrong he was.

2.3. Jesus Deals Graciously with Saul: one thing we need to know about Jesus is he is in the business of redeeming people. He just doesn’t confront and leave them hanging but he turns them around. His encounter with Saul is to stop him from self-destruction. That happens to those who take on Jesus. So, Jesus explains that he will be attended to when he gets to the city. We are told that Saul blinded by the light and he was led into the city where for 3 days and 3 nights, while blinded he neither ate nor drank. He was a man in an existential crisis as the impact of what he had been doing; the evil that he had set out on, began to settle on his mind. He was at rock bottom.

Conclusion and Call: I think those must have been the longest three days and nights for Saul. He had to confront the fact that he was wrong. That the way of life and the belief system he held was wrong. He needed to figure things out. He did not reject Jesus but he had to rethink life and what his life was all about. More many people, doing a 180- degree turn is difficult. We look for excuses to justify what we did. We either blame others or we stick our guns. I hope we have the wisdom to be humble hearted when we are confronted with the truth. That’s what Sunday morning is for. To receive truth and to be moved to repentance. But, more importantly, he received a Call on his life. Our life means little when we don’t sense God’s call. What does God want me to do?

Next Sunday, we will see what a man who is filled with the Spirit does when he is given a commission/call!